This invention relates to a foam tape which may be used, e.g., as a bandage hold down or an athletic wrap. In particular, the invention relates to a foam tape having a pressure-sensitive adhesive on one side, which can be formed into a roll and unrolled without disrupting the non-adhesive side of the tape or the adhesive and without the use of release paper or a release coating.
The use of adhesive tape in the treatment and prevention of sports injuries is well known. In general, the tape used is a cloth-backed tape, having a pressure-sensitive adhesive on one side thereof. The tape is generally porous and is supplied in roll form. This cloth-backed tape is particularly valuable for wrapping joints to prevent their movement. The tape has no appreciable stretch and, when wrapped several layers deep, it forms a hard, unyielding armour about the wrapped part.
However, conventional cloth-backed adhesive tape is not desirable for applications where limited movement of a joint is desired. Such tape can actually cut the skin when used for such applications, because of the unyielding nature of the material.
The use of stretchable foam material as a wrap for a limb is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,740,402 to W. M. Scholl. This patent discloses a bandage made of porous latex foam which may be coated with a pressure-sensitive adhesive. However, such a bandage would be unlikely to fine wide-spread use in modern day training rooms, because it cannot be self-rolled. The patent recognizes that if the bandage is wrapped upon itself, the adhesive surface and possibly the non-adhesive surface would be disrupted in an attempt to unwrap the bandage. Accordingly, a release paper applied to the adhesive side of the bandage would be necessary in order to roll the tape for shipping. Release paper, however, would be a nuisance in the training room, and the bandage could not be applied directly from the roll to an object to be wrapped without removing the release paper.
An alternative to release paper is a release coating on the back side of the tape itself. Such coatings are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,458,166 to Homeyer, Jr., and U.S. Pat. No. 3,066,043 to Hechtman et al. The use of a release coating, however, is undesirable, both because of the added expense associated with applying the release layer to the tape in the manufacturing process and because there would be inadequate adhesion between successive layers of release-coated tape when used as an athletic wrap.
Schaar, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,341,209 discloses a backing sheet made of polyethylene foam for pressure-sensitive adhesive finger bandages. Finger bandages are, typically, supplied with a release paper covering the adhesive side of the bandage.
Furthermore, the use of closed-cell polymer foam adhesive strips for weather stripping and insulating is well known. However, to the Applicants' knowledge, none of the foregoing are capable of being self-rolled without the use of release paper.